We’ve met a few times.
Not in any way you’d remember.
Just a fan running into you at Asbury’s bars. I have a picture of us meeting at The Jeffersonin
Asbury in the early 80’s. I was a
teenager working the boardwalk and racing Asbury’s “Circuit” in the 70’s. One of the kids “huddled on the beach in the
mist,” if you will.
I hail from the City of your choosing, Asbury Park New Jersey. A fan since you named your first album after our fair city; I’m one of your loyal “kids huddled on the beach in the mist.” We’ve met on those nights you thrill the locals with impromptu performances at the Stone Pony, which made that venue famous.
I’ve noticed your occasional forays into politics, including your concert cancellation in North Carolina to protest laws about who gets to use what bathroom, and who gets to sue for discrimination.
Damien Brennan, a former Rumson Police Sergeant, is asking the Monmouth County Superior Court to force the Borough and its Police Department to give him his gun and badge back.
Brennan, 38 of Howell, was terminated on August 11 of this year after an Internal Affairs inquiry into the single-car traffic accident he had on in the early hours of September 20, 2014 when he left the Dublin House in Red Bank to report to his off-duty assignment protecting Bruce Springsteen’s unoccupied Rumson home. According to reports on RedBankGreen, Brennan crashed his Chevy Camaro into a dumpster behind Fisher Diamonds at the corner of White and Broad Streets.
The Red Bank Police charged Brennan with DWI. He pleaded guilty to Reckless Driving and received a 60 day drivers license suspension after his attorney, Peter O’Mara, argued that the blood sample evidence taken at Riverview Medical Center after the accident should be ruled inadmissible because the Red Bank Police did not obtain a warrant for the blood, according to RedBankGreen.
In his suit against Rumson, Brennan blamed his car accident on Meniere’s Disease, a disorder of unknown cause that manifests with spontaneous episodes of vertigo — a sensation of a spinning motion — along with fluctuating hearing loss, ringing in the ear, and sometimes a feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear.
Governor Chris Christie gets a hug from rock legend Jon Bon Jovi while First Lady Mary Pat Christie gets a hug from Mr. Bon Jovi’s wife Dorothea before announcing a one million dollar donation to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund from Jon Bon Jovi at Borough Hall in Sayreville, N.J. on Monday, July 8, 2013. (Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen)
TRENTON — In a new interview with Laura Ingraham’s new online media publishing website Lifezette, Gov. Chris Christie made a stunning reversal, saying he now prefers New Jersey rocker Jon Bon Jovi to his longtime idol, Bruce Springsteen. In an interview seated next to his wife, First Lady Mary Pat Christie, the two are asked which… Read the rest of this entry »
Bruce Springsteen sings “Jersey Girl” at the Tradewinds in Sea Bright, on June 28, 1993
On June 1, 1993, Bruce Springsteen wrapped up his 1992-93 world tour with what has come to be known as his Other Band: A group of mostly non-E Street Band musicians who did a decent job, but still were inevitably compared…
Christie was not first choice as star of #STTS campaign
Congressman Frank Pallone during the 2013 Democratic U.S. Senate Primary Debate
Congressman Frank Pallone lied to the Department and Housing and Urban Development’s Inspector General when he asked that they audit the Christie Administration’s 2013 post-Superstorm Sandy Shore Tourism ad campaign.
In his August 8, 2013 letter to HUD Inspector General David Montoya, Pallone said:
Recently released documents relating to the bidding process and contract award for this marketing campaign show that the contract was awarded to a firm that is charging over $2 million more than the next lowest bidder to develop the marketing plan. The winning firm is being paid $4.7 million for their work, while a comparable firm proposed billing the state $2.5 million for similar work. This large discrepancy between the competing proposals raises concerns as to whether these federal funds are being spent in the most cost effective manner, and should be reviewed by your office.
I am also concerned that the winning bid proposed including Governor Chris Christie in the advertisements, while the lower cost proposal that was not selected did not. As you know, the Governor is running for reelection this year in a high profile race. It is inappropriate for taxpayer-funded dollars that are critical to our state’s recovery from this natural disaster to fund commercials that could potentially benefit a political campaign. In these sensitive circumstances, even the appearance of a conflict of interest should be avoided.
The fact that this particular proposal was chosen despite an obvious conflict of interest, in addition to the higher costs, raises serious concerns with the entire process. I fought hard for passage of the Sandy aid package in Congress by assuring my colleagues that this funding was critical to our recovery and that it would be spent responsibly without waste, fraud and abuse. Many in Congress objected to this funding precisely because of concerns their citizens’ tax dollars would be misspent. In that regard, the state’s mismanagement of taxpayer funds for this marketing campaign is extremely troubling, especially when there are so many New Jersey residents still in need of assistance to recover and rebuild from this historic storm.
But the firm behind the #STTS ad campaign, MWW of East Rutherford, said their proposal was $2.745 million under the $25 million budget and $1.47 million lower than the runner-up’s bid. MWW said their proposal offered the lowest hourly rate of all bids.
Governor Chris Christie’s election night victory celebration will be held at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, according to a “save the date” email sent to his supporters this afternoon.
Save the date.
Christie’s last visit to Asbury Park was with President Obama last May.
Jeffery Goldberg’s account in The Atlantic of the Springsteen concert he attended with Governor Chris Christie and his entourage at The Rock is a must read for friends and foe of Christie. Mitt Romney’s vetters and the DGA will be reading it. You might as well.
Christie is having a Town Hall meeting in Brick on Tuesday the 26th, four days before the State’s budget is due or the government shuts down, except for the State Police and the Casino Control Commission.
Bruce is invited but probably won’t show. You are invited too!
